The morning was bright and early as a pinkette made her way down the dirt path that twisted through the village, one of the many roads that lacked a name. A small vase of flowers was clutched in one hand and her eyes were downcast, her head bowed in defeat from some force. A few shops were opening, their owners yawning as they lifted up the iron bar curtains. A few vagabonds from the night drifted around still, but were quickly hiding away from the day and the respectable civilians that inhabited it.

Sakura Haruno was a very distinct person, one could hardly forget her. She wore bright red dresses and had shocking pink hair with jade green eyes and perfect skin that lacked any blemish. Her eyes sparkled with life and a smile was set against her lips at all times. People had a high opinion of her in the village and regarded her as the blooming flower of Konoha. But today, Sakura Haruno was still unforgettable. Her hair was messy and unwashed, her eyes rimmed with red and swollen from crying them dry. She seemed close to crying still, and her lower lip trembled just a bit.

She turned onto the Hospital drive and climbed her way to the doors. Tired orderlies were retiring from their night shifts and their replacements were trickling in. The Haruno was directed to the room she needed and walked up the stairs slowly. Occasionally, she would rest and lean against the wall the catch her breath.

A bruised and battered blond haired boy was laying unconscious on a hospital bed in a largely vacant ward. His chest rose and fell steadily, and a machine next to him beeped on time to his heart. Ways a way, the door opened and a pink haired girl peered in. She scuttled toward her team mate's bed quickly and placed the vase of flowers at his bed side. She paused to study Naruto Uzumaki's features.

"S-sakura..."He breathed and she froze. He mumbled her name once more and rolled over in his sleep and the girl let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry Naruto...please don't feel as if you are held to that promise. I was not myself when I asked..." She whispered. She stayed there for a minute more before turning and leaving the white room behind and the smell of antiseptic. The village was awakening now, it was Saturday and weekend shoppers were beginning to appear. The Haruno ninja let her feet carry her and she ignored her name being called by a familiar voice.

The Hokage Tower always seemed like something regal to her, as if a princess was sealed away at the top and a valiant knight was awaiting at the bottom ready to rescue her. It stood for law and order, the sentinel of the city. She had only visited it once for her interview by the Third and two other ninja. The old man smiled at her and praised her high marks on the graduation exam. He said he expected great things from her while the other two exchanged doubtful glances.

Sakura opened the door to the lobby and a secretary was sorting stacks of paper into different piles. She ignored the woman's protests when she kept going past her and up the stair way to the Hokage's office. Naruto had once told her were it was when he was rambling on about Tsunade. Sakura had only talked to the busty woman a few times, each of those times in polite company, the blonde's attention displayed fully toward her team mates. The pinkette ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time and nearly tripping once. Sakura stopped outside the woman's office and knocked. Shizune answered with a surprised look on her face when Sakura mumbled if she could come in.

"Is security in this place really that bad to were a snot nosed genin can just waltz in?" Tsunade slurred from behind her desk.

"Lady Tsunade, this is Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzimaki and Sasuke Uchiha's team mate." Shizune said formally and smiled at the pink haired genin.

"Are you here to complain and cry about the failure of getting that blasted Uchiha back?" Tsunade growled, swaying a little in her seat.

"N-no Hokage-sama. I-I came h-here to ask y-you something-g." Sakura stuttered to a point were Hinata would be proud. Both of the women stared at Sakura, awaiting her question. The pinkette exhaled deeply and swallowed away her fears. "I want you to train me Hokage-sama. I want to be able to help Naruto get back Sasuke the next time there is a chance, and I'm to weak to do it! I want to be strong and stand at their sides as an equal not as a liability!" Sakura said in one breath, bowing deeply and fighting back shame.

The room was silent for a few minutes as Shizune's eyes darted back and forth between the two and Tsunade seemed to be deep in thought. Sakura kept her eyes squeezed shut in case the Hokage laughed at her and she was thrown out of the office for even suggesting the idea. That way she wouldn't see the look on her face.

"Very well, I'll train you. Report here tomorrow morning at seven a.m. for the start." Tsunade said, amused. Sakura looked up, her eyes wide in disbelief, then her mouth split in two.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama! You won't regret it!" She said excitedly and bounded out of the room.

"What did I just get myself into?" Tsunade sighed when the girl's red dress whipped out of sight. Sakura ran back to her house, and by the time she reached her door way, she had to lean against it and catch her breath for a few minutes. A pressure settled in her chest and she had to sit down and buried her head in her hands.

The feelings she had managed to suppress for the few hours she dared to venture out into the world broke through like a poorly constructed dam and she shuddered. The boy she devoted her life to, fantasized about as a child, become an actual friend to him and began to feel genuine love for, was gone. And he didn't give a shit about her. After she confessed her love, all he did was smirk, tell her thank you, and knock her out. What the hell did he mean by that anyway? She had devoted endless hours to deciphering his meaning.

'I'm an idiot. I'm a fool.' She ran her hand through her short hair once more and her fingers snagged on entwined strands. She tugged her hand loose and her eyes watered from the pain just a little. She leaned back on her couch and gazed at the ceiling. Here she was, looking at the remains of her life. She was on longer twelve, a child, sheltered by the village. She had seen death, looked it in the eye and challenged it and lived. A huge gap was in her life now and she had a decision to make. Sasuke had prophesied that the three team members of lucky number team seven were destined for different paths, and that when he left, their separate journeys would begin.

She got up and slowly made her way to the stairs, her parents sleeping in for the day. Her foot fell firmly on the first step and she felt something fall off the shelf inside her. Her other foot raised then lowered and she began her ascend up the stairs. Each foot fall, something would shatter inside. It was the oddest feeling, yet she was compelled not to stop it but to investigate it as it happened. When she reached the top she swayed on her feet and it was then that she realized she was about to feint from exhaustion. She had only had about three hours total of sleep from last night and only two the previous night.

She stumbled toward her room and the world teetered on edge, her empty stomach heaved, yet there was nothing to expel. She fell onto her knees on her carpet and crawled to her bed. Darkness ebbed at her vision and she did not make it, passing out on the floor.

She was standing in a field of delicate pink flowers. A magnificent cherry blossom tree was the center of the field, it's own Hokage tower. About the size of an oak tree, it's petals were tugged away by the wind in a beautiful swirl and daintily drifted away. The sky was a forget-me-not hue, with a sun that resembled melted butter. She let out a sigh, this place must be some sort a heaven and she began to sit down and enjoy a nice nap under the pleasant sun.

A movement caught her eye and the pinkette turned to make sure it just wasn't a trick of the light. In a small patch of flowers five or six feet away, a black mass rose up from the ground. The ooze dripped off and slowly the mass took a form of a girl. Skin peered through small holes, and arms broke out from its sides, fingers curled outward and legs appeared. A head lifted upward, and it was then that Sakura noticed it was herself. Except, the doppelganger had thick black bags under their eyes that resembled bruises, and a harsh set face twisted into a foul smirk.

"Do you care for poetry?" The twin asked. Sakura could only blink, and her reflection nodded at this. "Let none of earth inherit that vision on my spirit," this Dark-Sakura said and took a step forward, the flowers around her feet wilted into ash under her touch, "Those thoughts I would control as a spell upon his soul, for that bright hope at last and that light time have past." The Dark-Sakura was standing before the real one, a path of dirt now cut through the flowers.

"And my worldly rest hath gone with a sigh as it pass'd on." Sakura breathed, and her eyes widened, the words had spilled out of her mouth without her control, and Dark-Sakura smirk widened.

"I care not tho' it perish with a thought I did then cherish." Dark-Sakura finished and with each syllable she slowly leaned toward the pinkette until she was an inch away. With a great leap, Sakura felt the double jump inside her. She screamed until her lungs seemed to burst, as it felt like her entire flesh was burning, and she wanted to vomit, the pain was unbearable. Her jaw was clenched shut as if a hand had come up and forced it.

The flowers all exploded into dust, and the sun was blotted out like a candle's flame, the sky ran pitch black and the great cherry blossom tree was barren, a white twisting skeleton and the wind howled through the field of blasted flowers as Sakura collapsed in a shaking heap on the barren earth. Her eyes flew open and she found her self on the floor of her room. Her eyes darted to the clock, and she jolted as she realized the time, she had slept through the entire day. Her parents must have figured she was still hiding up in her room and just ignored her.

She tried to sit up but a heavy pressure had settle around her as if gravity had reversed. She gasped for breaths and her throat seemed to have swollen up into a small hole that not even a needle could fit through. Tears dripped through her eyes and his image burned through her mind and she came to terms then that she had been lied to her entire life. Love was a lie, it did not exist. The fairy tale of the princess awaiting her noble prince was just that, a fairy tale. In reality, the prince would have just seen the dragon guarding the girl and said 'screw it'. And the princess would die, still waiting for her prince.

Kill the lie. Kill Sasuke Uchiha. A raspy voice whispered in her ear and she felt the pressure begin to let up and a breath was sucked in as she turned her head with a great attempt to look out her window. The village was a black sea, all of the lights extinguished and even the stars were blackened out. When they eventually did come back on, she knew then that she would be stuck in that darkness, forever in the absence of light.

No stars, no light.

Full Dark.

for those of you just joining the full dark experience, this is the third attempt at rewritting this story. i left the first chapter up b/c i thought it was descent, but i saw the traffic for this story and there is a large drop off between the first and second chapter, as the first chapter is supposed to grab your attention and keep you wanted to read, so i went back and rewrote this chapter *le sigh"

the poem recited in the chapter is Imitation by Edgar Allan Poe, and the last to lines I..uh...borrowed from a stephen kind novel called full dark (i think) that was just the tag line for it lol

reviews are appreciated as are faves and alerts :) there probably are alot of spelling errors in this chapter as i wrote it in an hour and glimpsed over it when i edited it lol